A whole bunch of wonderful people’s lives are at risk. Doctors are denying medical treatment for a lot of people with asthma, blood clot problems, and diabetes. I have a diagnosed blood clot condition, and my leg has been severely swollen. Sometimes it’s numb, and the color of the skin on my leg looks like it’s been burnt. I also have an irregular heartbeat and tightness in my chest, but the doctors are telling me that I’m not a priority because of COVID-19, so I’m not getting treatment. Doctors on the outside told me I needed to be taking my blood thinning medication for the rest of my life, but now I’m not getting that medication and Dr. Possomi, Dr. Cooper, and one other doctor here are telling me I don’t need it. But I never had these symptoms before I came to the jail. They only started when they took me off my medication. I took an ultrasound and it showed no blood clots, but I’m feeling the symptoms and I’m scared to go to sleep because the clots might return.
The coronavirus is continuing to spread through the jail. People are scared to go to medical staff about it, because people are often brushed off, or if they’re positive they’re placed in ad seg and treated like they committed some kind of offense. The number of prisoners with COVID-19 is definitely more than 103, more than they’re saying, but the health department and CDC never walk around Santa Rita Jail to find out what’s really happening in these facilities. The health department and CDC need to do a walk around instead of just calling the jail and getting false information. We need to have the health department and CDC do a surprise investigation and inspection, otherwise they’ll make it look like we’re living in Beverly Hills.Â
The number of prisoners with COVID-19 is definitely more than 103, more than they’re saying, but the health department and CDC never walk around Santa Rita Jail to find out what’s really happening in these facilities.
The housing units are unsanitary. There are mice running around at night. We’re being given brooms without a broomstick, so people clean the floor on their knees. There are pieces of food, objects, and old, dried up blood stuck in the carpet, which has bacteria that irritates people’s skin. The captain of the jail facility said she was going to have the carpet ripped up, but instead they sent out a technician who tried to disguise the stains but didn’t actually clean it. They just used a machine that wet the carpet. The captain also said the showers would be sanitized and bleached. It’s supposed to be cleaned twice a day, but it’s barely cleaned. People are forced to urinate in the shower, because there are no toilets in the pod area, and it causes skin irritation problems. I had measles-like bumps on my ankle after using the shower. We received cloth masks 3 months ago and have to clean it ourselves with soap. If you get one from laundry, you get one that used to belong to someone else, and it seems like the laundry is not being cleaned correctly. It’s being washed with just water. People working in the kitchen got infected with COVID, but Santa Rita Jail still allowed that food to get distributed to every unit. People aren’t eating the food because the food keeps getting sent out even though the staff know it’s contaminated.
People working in the kitchen got infected with COVID, but Santa Rita Jail still allowed that food to get distributed to every unit. People aren’t eating the food because the food keeps getting sent out even though the staff know it’s contaminated.
Santa Rita Jail sent us to a trailer park for a supervised shower so our cells could be professionally cleaned. The whole pod of 30+ people was clustered in the multipurpose room like sardines, then brought outside. But they just did it to get documentation to tell City Council that they followed procedure, and the cells weren’t thoroughly cleaned. It seemed like they came and sprayed something on the floors, but nothing else was any different. The toilet and sink looked the same; the walls and bed area looked the same. The place is really dirty, and so the coronavirus is going to stick around.
Four deputies continue to not wear face masks. They are protecting themselves but not protecting us. Deputy Caron is always disrespectful and very unprofessional. When I ask him for a grievance form he’ll just bring the forms back and throw them on the table. He targets certain individuals. Technician White is also very disrespectful. He is racist towards African-American men. I wrote a grievance about it, but all my grievances were denied. There’s no way we’ll get a fair outcome through the grievance system. They always believe the deputies before believing our truth. In their eyes, we are proven guilty by being African-American. They don’t treat me like I’m a part of society.
Technician White is also very disrespectful. He is racist towards African-American men. I wrote a grievance about it, but all my grievances were denied. There’s no way we’ll get a fair outcome through the grievance system. They always believe the deputies before believing our truth. In their eyes, we are proven guilty by being African-American. They don’t treat me like I’m a part of society.
I’ve been spending way more time in my cell. We used to have 4 hours of recreation in the morning and 4 at night. Now we spend 20 hours inside the cell and 4 hours outside the cell. I’ve requested mental health support several times, but I guess I’m not a priority. The only thing that can help me is being released.
Santa Rita Jail and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department have been human trafficking prisoners—they refuse to let people be at home and instead trap them at Santa Rita Jail, and the Alameda County Public Defender’s office has been misrepresenting their clients. Santa Rita Jail doesn’t provide proper medical care to people here. Despite me having all these symptoms, the doctor says my injuries are not a priority. I could go to sleep and not wake up the next day. We’re dealing with a system that’s just going to continue human trafficking. They went down from 1600 inmates and released people on the old jail balance bill. Now it’s almost 1900 inmates. They’re just replacing people, not releasing people. It’s a business. Every human life here is based on a dollar. It doesn’t matter if you’re spending money on this GTL network or buying these overpriced canteen items. People are being denied the full medical treatment they need. Please share this information with the news and anyone you can. The jail is providing false information to the media. The more people whose eyes are opened to conditions like this the better.
Every human life here is based on a dollar. It doesn’t matter if you’re spending money on this GTL network or buying these overpriced canteen items. People are being denied the full medical treatment they need. Please share this information with the news and anyone you can. The jail is providing false information to the media. The more people whose eyes are opened to conditions like this the better.